5-year survival increases in males for melanoma often. A success, which was observed for the first time ever in Italy and in Europe in the general population, thanks to the common use of new drugs for targeted therapy and immunotherapy in patients with advanced and inoperable melanoma. This is the result of a joint study by Airtum, the Association of Italian Cancer Registries, coordinated by the Romagna Cancer Registry, previewed at the XXVII National Congress Imi, the Italian Melanoma Intergroup, underway in Turin. The research won the Elvo Tempia Special Prize 2021. In the meantime, several innovations presented during the meeting, including the use of artificial intelligence and genetic teleconsulting,which during the lockdown increased by 34% at the San Martino Polyclinic IRCC in Genoa (to which the IMI is integrated).
The research explored melanoma survival in Italy between 2003 and 2017. A trend that had long been favorable both in Italy and in numerous other countries thanks to early diagnosis. Thickness in melanoma is the main prognostic factor, and patients with thinner ones have better survival. "The study - says Emanuele Crocetti, consultant of the Romagna Scientific Institute for the study and treatment of tumors (Irst) Irccs - confirmed that, in both sexes, the median thickness of melanomas recorded in the period 2003-2017 continued to and that, in parallel, patient survival has continued to improve. However, 5-year survival has especially increased for men, rising from 87% between 2003 and 2007,93% between 2013 and 2017, reaching women's survival for the first time in Italy. All this despite the fact that men continue to have thicker melanomas. "It is increasingly possible to diagnose melanoma early thanks to artificial intelligence with increasingly efficient assessments. The result is that priority for rapid treatments is given to patients with high risk, reducing waiting lists and thus increasing the time for managing all those who turn to the specialist.artificial intelligence with increasingly efficient evaluations. The result is that priority is given to high-risk patients for rapid treatments, reducing waiting lists and thus increasing the time for the management of all those who go to the specialist.artificial intelligence with increasingly efficient evaluations. The result is that priority is given to high-risk patients for rapid treatments, reducing waiting lists and thus increasing the time for the management of all those who go to the specialist.
Furthermore, with adjuvant therapy, the face of melanoma surgery and advanced squamous cell carcinoma radically changes. In the last two years, drugs administered to reduce the risk of relapse have improved patient survival and allowed for more targeted surgery: to date, interventions on positive sentinel lymph nodes with microscopic metastases have decreased by 80%, and unnecessary lymph node dissections, while metastasectomies of patients once considered inoperable have increased considerably. "Melanoma surgery - explains Roberto Patuzzo, Surgeon at the Melanoma and Sarcoma Division of the National Cancer Institute of Milan - has become increasingly targeted and complex as the indications have changed thanks to adjuvant therapies,with the result that the type of hospitalized patient has changed ". (ANSA).
